Pakistan faces China challenge — in soccer ball-making

By Sam Mamudi

You may not know it, but a town in Pakistan called Sialkot produces 40% of the soccer balls made worldwide each year.

As a video by our colleague Tom Wright of The Wall Street Journal explains, the people of Sialkot are facing a growing threat from China, in part because the Chinese are offering ball-makers such as Adidas machine-stitched balls. Machine-stitching can produce 36 balls a day while a Sialkot expert can only hand-stitch six balls a day.

But Sialkot is pushing back, and may be successful, particularly because its hand-stitched offerings are of much better quality. Little boys around the world will no doubt be breathing a sigh of relief.

About 2010 World Cup

Here at MarketWatch’s World Cup blog, we hope to offer an in-depth look at the tournament. We’ll explore the economics, politics and athletic allure that drive the world’s most popular sporting event. We also plan to offer a slice of how the rest of the world sees the tournament.